Given the price of my FIOS triple play (TV, Internet, Phone) and the fact that I do not watch too much TV and use my mobile phone mostly, I’ve been looking to cut the cord for years. With the expiration of my latest FIOS deal I looked into it again but this time I did it because of the availability of YouTube TV.

One of the main reasons I never cut the cord was because I would lose access to Live Sports and the ability to record shows. The workarounds available were either too much work or not very effective. I discovered YouTube TV and it made the leap easy. It has all the stations I want to watch and I stream it to my TV, computer, and iPad and can share the account with 5 others in my family and the price is right. I can also record shows and watch them from anywhere.

So far it had been a hit for me and the family.

There are a few downsides:

-You must have a device to stream it to your TV. One of our TVs has only a FireTV stick and it is not compatible with YTTV. Fortunately, that TV is used for working out only so the Prime content, TV station apps (NBC News, WatchESPN) and iPad (YTTV) works fine in that application.
-Resolution is capped at 1080p (I think). None of my TVs are capable of better and I don’t know how much 4K content is out there.
-Your stations are determined by your location. I live in between two markets. With FIOS I get local stations for both. YTTV flags me for only one market and unfortunately my favorite sports team is in the other market. As a season ticket holder this should not be an issue but I also have a workaround suggested by YTTV (change the location when I am in the other market and every three months log into the account when I am in the other market...not a problem for me, I am there often).
-The interface is good but I like a traditional TV guide better.
-They keep adding stations. OK, this is a good thing. However, initially, the beauty was the content was limited and covered almost everything I needed. There is more content but they need to improve the ability to get to the station you want to without scrolling or searching. I’m nitpicking, this is not a big deal but I like being able to type 543 and getting to ESPN versus scrolling.

On balance I’m paying about 1/2 of what I was paying under FIOS triple play. My internet speed is double but of course I’ve lost a bunch of TV content (that I wasn’t using) and my landline phone (which I used sporadically).

After a month, so far so good. I’ll report back with any additional insights. If you have questions just ask.

We've had YTTV for about 7 months. It works great. A few months ago a YTTV app showed up on our Samsung smart tv so I only stream from the phone or chromebook occasionally. We cut the cord a few years ago and also have netflix and amazon prime. The hd antenna hasn't been used since getting YTTV.

Given the price of my FIOS triple play (TV, Internet, Phone) and the fact that I do not watch too much TV and use my mobile phone mostly, I’ve been looking to cut the cord for years. With the expiration of my latest FIOS deal I looked into it again but this time I did it because of the availability of YouTube TV.

One of the main reasons I never cut the cord was because I would lose access to Live Sports and the ability to record shows. The workarounds available were either too much work or not very effective. I discovered YouTube TV and it made the leap easy. It has all the stations I want to watch and I stream it to my TV, computer, and iPad and can share the account with 5 others in my family and the price is right. I can also record shows and watch them from anywhere.

So far it had been a hit for me and the family.

There are a few downsides:

-You must have a device to stream it to your TV. One of our TVs has only a FireTV stick and it is not compatible with YTTV. Fortunately, that TV is used for working out only so the Prime content, TV station apps (NBC News, WatchESPN) and iPad (YTTV) works fine in that application.
-Resolution is capped at 1080p (I think). None of my TVs are capable of better and I don’t know how much 4K content is out there.
-Your stations are determined by your location. I live in between two markets. With FIOS I get local stations for both. YTTV flags me for only one market and unfortunately my favorite sports team is in the other market. As a season ticket holder this should not be an issue but I also have a workaround suggested by YTTV (change the location when I am in the other market and every three months log into the account when I am in the other market...not a problem for me, I am there often).
-The interface is good but I like a traditional TV guide better.
-They keep adding stations. OK, this is a good thing. However, initially, the beauty was the content was limited and covered almost everything I needed. There is more content but they need to improve the ability to get to the station you want to without scrolling or searching. I’m nitpicking, this is not a big deal but I like being able to type 543 and getting to ESPN versus scrolling.

On balance I’m paying about 1/2 of what I was paying under FIOS triple play. My internet speed is double but of course I’ve lost a bunch of TV content (that I wasn’t using) and my landline phone (which I used sporadically).

After a month, so far so good. I’ll report back with any additional insights. If you have questions just ask.

Thank you very much for your post and for detailing your experience. We are thinking of doing the same thing right now. We do worry that we will need to pay and manage the bills of 3 or 4 businesses (Youtube TV, plus maybe Netflix, Amazon Prime) in addition to our internet provider to achieve what we have now with one bill. Plus internet only seems like a lot without a bundle and the technology learning curve seems overwhelming...

Given the price of my FIOS triple play (TV, Internet, Phone) and the fact that I do not watch too much TV and use my mobile phone mostly, I’ve been looking to cut the cord for years. With the expiration of my latest FIOS deal I looked into it again but this time I did it because of the availability of YouTube TV.

One of the main reasons I never cut the cord was because I would lose access to Live Sports and the ability to record shows. The workarounds available were either too much work or not very effective. I discovered YouTube TV and it made the leap easy. It has all the stations I want to watch and I stream it to my TV, computer, and iPad and can share the account with 5 others in my family and the price is right. I can also record shows and watch them from anywhere.

So far it had been a hit for me and the family.

There are a few downsides:

-You must have a device to stream it to your TV. One of our TVs has only a FireTV stick and it is not compatible with YTTV. Fortunately, that TV is used for working out only so the Prime content, TV station apps (NBC News, WatchESPN) and iPad (YTTV) works fine in that application.
-Resolution is capped at 1080p (I think). None of my TVs are capable of better and I don’t know how much 4K content is out there.
-Your stations are determined by your location. I live in between two markets. With FIOS I get local stations for both. YTTV flags me for only one market and unfortunately my favorite sports team is in the other market. As a season ticket holder this should not be an issue but I also have a workaround suggested by YTTV (change the location when I am in the other market and every three months log into the account when I am in the other market...not a problem for me, I am there often).
-The interface is good but I like a traditional TV guide better.
-They keep adding stations. OK, this is a good thing. However, initially, the beauty was the content was limited and covered almost everything I needed. There is more content but they need to improve the ability to get to the station you want to without scrolling or searching. I’m nitpicking, this is not a big deal but I like being able to type 543 and getting to ESPN versus scrolling.

On balance I’m paying about 1/2 of what I was paying under FIOS triple play. My internet speed is double but of course I’ve lost a bunch of TV content (that I wasn’t using) and my landline phone (which I used sporadically).

After a month, so far so good. I’ll report back with any additional insights. If you have questions just ask.

Have you thought about OTA TV? We have OTA TV set up via a very small (36 inch) roof antenna and have it connected to our master closet where we have the signal split and going to five different TVs. With all of the local content covered, we just subscribe to SlingTV for the ex-local network options.

I am very happy with YouTube TV. The only downside is when I try to marathon something on the DVR but I've already watched an episode, it changes shows. So if I've watched the next episode of The Simpsons when I have one on, but I had the previous episode on in the background, I sometimes find something else on -- often unrelated. Very confusing.

I wish my TV had a YouTube TV app so I wouldn't need to use the laptop + chromecast. I'm sure there's a reason it doesn't.

I watched a YouTube (but not YouTube TV) stream of a football match last night and it was broadcast in SD.

"What was true then is true now. Have a plan. Stick to it." -- XXXX, _Layer Cake_

We had DirecTV, AT&T internet and mobile while my son worked for them and got a great discount. When he left for another job we switched everything and so far so good.
ROKU
YoutubeTV
Xfinity internet
T-Mobile (+ free Netflix)

We switched to save money and so far the quality of the services have been equal or better. I do understand that it is quite confusing to go from all one company with TV coming in on a cable or satellite to multiple companies and over the top tv. I had no idea why I needed a ROKU device (actually devices, for our two TVs). But it has been worth the trouble to learn. YouTubeTV through ROKU has been far less glitchy than even our satellite DirecTV and I like the fact that the ROKU is a one time payment and that YouTubeTV is on a month-to-month, non contract payment plan. The only downside is that we had to sign a 2 year contract with Xfinity for faster internet speed. Our only other provider, AT&T, can't provide the necessary speed in our area for consistent streaming tv.

For those still needing a home phone, I can highly recommend Obihai. They sell devices (~$50) that connect to your router and it gives you 1-2 phone outlets. You can then connect it to a Google Voice account, and make calls in the US for free. I did this for my parents about a year ago and they've been very happy with it, and I've had zero interaction with it. It does not replace a traditional landline for 911 calling, but you can pay a few bucks a month to get E911 setup.

Just got a month of Direct TV Now and a 4k Fire for ~$3.50 in tax (after a $35 promo credit from Bank of America credit card).
Haven't hooked up the Fire TV yet, but Direct TV Now has been fine so far.

Moving the family to my own AT&T account will also get us free HBO, and I think save us a bit on AT&T.

Debating between Hulu and Direct TV Now. Ruling out Youtube TV only because of their fight w/ amazon.

Just got a month of Direct TV Now and a 4k Fire for ~$3.50 in tax (after a $35 promo credit from Bank of America credit card).
Haven't hooked up the Fire TV yet, but Direct TV Now has been fine so far.

Moving the family to my own AT&T account will also get us free HBO, and I think save us a bit on AT&T.

Debating between Hulu and Direct TV Now. Ruling out Youtube TV only because of their fight w/ amazon.

I find Hulu (at $12 a month I believe) to be an excellent compliment to DirecTV NOW. DirecTV NOW really gives you the keys to most of the kingdom in providing access to live events (sports, news, etc) and provider apps (Disney Junior, PBS, and so on), while I find Hulu far superior for streaming content on-demand.

I'm not sure I would have stuck with cord cutting if I only had DirecTV NOW, but adding Hulu (and Netflix) has provided an excellent core of content in my household. We're sticking with it!

Optimum internet $49.99 & tax
Playstation Vue $49.99 (lowest level, includes local tv and all of the cable stations I want, ESPN, etc)
Roku plug in device for 4 TVs (one time cost of $39 per TV)

For my landline phone, I changed to Magic Jack. Will cost $39 for a full year (device you plug into router included). I also ported over my phone number (cost another $20).

Very satisified so far. Playstation Vue has a DVR that allows you to record and playback (just about) any program...recordings are kept available for 30 days after airing. There have been the occasional glitches with a program not recording but we have been 98% satisified.

"Take calculated risks - that is quite different from being rash." |
General George S. Patton

Really, we don't need devices (with mechanical hard drives) or cloud storage that can record content. We just need that content to be made available when we watch it.

that's just the thing though: w/out a DVR, it might not be available when you want to watch it.
Just like how DishNetwork/DirecTV have had disputes with certain studios in the past, various streaming apps will invariably experience the same.
Hopefully, if it's been DVR'd to the cloud, it doesn't just vanish, but with streaming alone, it absolutely will.
And there's also certain streaming services that have exclusive agreements.
It's annoying that shows are often only streamable for some time after they've aired.
With a DVR you can always go back to it.

Really, we don't need devices (with mechanical hard drives) or cloud storage that can record content. We just need that content to be made available when we watch it.

that's just the thing though: w/out a DVR, it might not be available when you want to watch it.
Just like how DishNetwork/DirecTV have had disputes with certain studios in the past, various streaming apps will invariably experience the same.
Hopefully, if it's been DVR'd to the cloud, it doesn't just vanish, but with streaming alone, it absolutely will.
And there's also certain streaming services that have exclusive agreements.
It's annoying that shows are often only streamable for some time after they've aired.
With a DVR you can always go back to it.

All true.

I've been beta testing DirecTV NOW's new DVR a bit in the past few months, and every time I've tried to record my wife's ABC shows it doesn't allow her to fast forward through content (like commercials, or scenes she doesn't want to watch).

I fear that you're right and that studios will mess with cloud-based DVRs that are offered by actual providers like DirecTV. Hopefully consumers get third-party options (like Tivo 20 years ago) that will set the standard for the technology and the rest of the market will be forced to follow.

I will say that I'm thrilled that my old, slow, clunky DVR DirecTV box has been replaced by the Apple TV.

We've had YTTV for about 7 months. It works great. A few months ago a YTTV app showed up on our Samsung smart tv so I only stream from the phone or chromebook occasionally. We cut the cord a few years ago and also have netflix and amazon prime. The hd antenna hasn't been used since getting YTTV.

One negative in my experience is that sports don’t look great on youtubetv. I think it’s due to a low frame rate. Definitely inferior to cable. One work around is to stream games via the fox sports or espn apps using youtubetv login info. They seem to support a higher frame rate and at least subjectively look better to me.

We've had YTTV for about 7 months. It works great. A few months ago a YTTV app showed up on our Samsung smart tv so I only stream from the phone or chromebook occasionally. We cut the cord a few years ago and also have netflix and amazon prime. The hd antenna hasn't been used since getting YTTV.

One negative in my experience is that sports don’t look great on youtubetv. I think it’s due to a low frame rate. Definitely inferior to cable. One work around is to stream games via the fox sports or espn apps using youtubetv login info. They seem to support a higher frame rate and at least subjectively look better to me.

You'll find that to be hit or miss.

ESPN Family of channels, BTN, and FS1/FS2, along with local ABC and Fox should be 60 fps and seem indistinguishable from cable. If there is a lag with those, something other than the YTTV is at fault. Others, like local CBS and NBC I believe, along with NBC Sports and CBS Sports Net, are still operating at 30 fps at this time.

We've had YTTV for about 7 months. It works great. A few months ago a YTTV app showed up on our Samsung smart tv so I only stream from the phone or chromebook occasionally. We cut the cord a few years ago and also have netflix and amazon prime. The hd antenna hasn't been used since getting YTTV.

One negative in my experience is that sports don’t look great on youtubetv. I think it’s due to a low frame rate. Definitely inferior to cable. One work around is to stream games via the fox sports or espn apps using youtubetv login info. They seem to support a higher frame rate and at least subjectively look better to me.

I watched the WGC last week on YouTubeTV and most of the NFL games I watched last season on the same, and I didn't notice. But it's possible I wasn't paying enough attention. I watched the Valspar on Sunday and the Super Bowl last month on cable TV (not at my place) and they looked great. Same TV in both cases (well, model at least; I didn't transport my TV to a friend's place).

Now, the IFL's broadcast of Arizona vs Iowa a few days ago, that was noticeable, but that wasn't from YouTubeTV.

"What was true then is true now. Have a plan. Stick to it." -- XXXX, _Layer Cake_

We've had YTTV for about 7 months. It works great. A few months ago a YTTV app showed up on our Samsung smart tv so I only stream from the phone or chromebook occasionally. We cut the cord a few years ago and also have netflix and amazon prime. The hd antenna hasn't been used since getting YTTV.

One negative in my experience is that sports don’t look great on youtubetv. I think it’s due to a low frame rate. Definitely inferior to cable. One work around is to stream games via the fox sports or espn apps using youtubetv login info. They seem to support a higher frame rate and at least subjectively look better to me.

You'll find that to be hit or miss.

ESPN Family of channels, BTN, and FS1/FS2, along with local ABC and Fox should be 60 fps and seem indistinguishable from cable. If there is a lag with those, something other than the YTTV is at fault. Others, like local CBS and NBC I believe, along with NBC Sports and CBS Sports Net, are still operating at 30 fps at this time.

I found a thread on reddit just now that confirms what you wrote above. The thread was from 11/2017. That said on my device (a new Roku), it doesn’t look right so perhaps it’s related to my roku, it’s setup or even my tv setup.

We went with DirecTV Now a week ago and are pleased. Why? We took the second level package that after our initial three month discount period will be $60 per month, the ability to stream to any device, being able to locate TVs in places that running cable would have been problematic, the cost, etc. The downsides? Limited to two live streams at any time (I believe the highest from any competitor in this space is three, which might be SlingTV?), the resolution might not be totally as good as regular DirecTV but is decent still, and having to purchase the devices that would work best in our estimation (the Amazon FireTV Sticks, which I was able to get discounts on anyways). Very happy since we have the channels we actually want to watch and will not be paying for a 1000+ that we never tuned into.

I considered OTA but I then would need to buy an antenna which may be visible and it still would not be a complete solution. YTTV works well.

The newer antennas are less than 3ft long and are compliant with most HOA's. If not, it still may work if you install in the back of the home.

Beware of the data cap limits some of the Internet providers now place. How much TV watching will your family be doing? Direct TV and YouTube TV are huge data hogs. And when I trialed Direct TV Now, user settings did not allow me to intentionally lower the quality to save on data. I actually came close to the cap (1 Tb) one month with Comcast and that was using OTA TV for half of the time! Very frustrating.

I considered OTA but I then would need to buy an antenna which may be visible and it still would not be a complete solution. YTTV works well.

'
We had the same concern about visibility, until we learned about the possibility of installing an antenna in our attic. Here's a link to the one we ended up purchasing. Works great - we live about 20 miles from the nearest TV towers, but are able to get a rock-solid signal that doesn't seem to be affected by rain or snow. I was initially concerned about signal loss from the shingles, etc, but it hasn't been a problem.

We just cut the cord and moved to Fire TV (yes an upfront cost per unit) with PlayStation Vue and LOVE it.

Meh. I had Vue for about a month, but kept losing access to my regional sports network every other time I tried to use it. This was my primary reason for going with Vue. My understanding is that the service "locates" you based on your IP address of the router for your home, so if your internet provider assigns you a different IP address (which happens) then it assumes you're not really at home anymore and shuts off access to all your local channels.

Eventually had to cancel and go to DirectTV Now, which we LOVE - has my sports channels, plus the cable-only channels that the family likes to watch. Also integrates very well with the Fire TV box that we have.

We just cut the cord and moved to Fire TV (yes an upfront cost per unit) with PlayStation Vue and LOVE it.

Meh. I had Vue for about a month, but kept losing access to my regional sports network every other time I tried to use it. This was my primary reason for going with Vue. My understanding is that the service "locates" you based on your IP address of the router for your home, so if your internet provider assigns you a different IP address (which happens) then it assumes you're not really at home anymore and shuts off access to all your local channels.

We are a few weeks into it and so far no issues. Kids watch a ton of sports but will keep an eye on things. LOVE the no contract for any of these sort of services so it is nice one can change services at the drop of a hat (vs Verizon/Comcast/et.al.)

We just cut the cord and moved to Fire TV (yes an upfront cost per unit) with PlayStation Vue and LOVE it.

Meh. I had Vue for about a month, but kept losing access to my regional sports network every other time I tried to use it. This was my primary reason for going with Vue. My understanding is that the service "locates" you based on your IP address of the router for your home, so if your internet provider assigns you a different IP address (which happens) then it assumes you're not really at home anymore and shuts off access to all your local channels.

We are a few weeks into it and so far no issues. Kids watch a ton of sports but will keep an eye on things. LOVE the no contract for any of these sort of services so it is nice one can change services at the drop of a hat (vs Verizon/Comcast/et.al.)

Exactly. Once one of the services raises rates or removes content then BOOM! switchover to another one. That should keep prices low and content high (until the collusion begins).

I've switched to DirecTV Now for about a month (from Dish). Less than half the price and it has all of the channels we watch (plus a free Apple TV!).

Few points:
- We only get Fox live as local channels, which is absolutely horrible. I really hope the rest of the locals are added in.
- My wife hates not having a DVR and being able to record whatever and fwd through commercials. I am looking to get a channel master OTA dvr once they become available.
- DirecTV Now cloud DVR seems to function as advertised. It's in Beta only right now and limited to 20 hours. There is no pricing information from them on how much it will cost once they release it.
- Really miss locals (antenna for now).

I've switched to DirecTV Now for about a month (from Dish). Less than half the price and it has all of the channels we watch (plus a free Apple TV!).

Few points:
- We only get Fox live as local channels, which is absolutely horrible. I really hope the rest of the locals are added in.
- My wife hates not having a DVR and being able to record whatever and fwd through commercials. I am looking to get a channel master OTA dvr once they become available.
- DirecTV Now cloud DVR seems to function as advertised. It's in Beta only right now and limited to 20 hours. There is no pricing information from them on how much it will cost once they release it.
- Really miss locals (antenna for now).

You might take a look at the Channels App for the Apple TV. If you are reasonably technically savvy they have a OTA DVR solution that works very well.

Tried Hulu Live and it was horrible. A lot of Buffering issues. Live Sports (football and basketball) was the worst but also some normal shows were bad as well. We have ATT UVerse Internet 50 which supposed to be download speed of 30-50 mbps on their Fiber lines. Cancelled it and went back and got a deal for ATT UVerse.

I've switched to DirecTV Now for about a month (from Dish). Less than half the price and it has all of the channels we watch (plus a free Apple TV!).

Few points:
- We only get Fox live as local channels, which is absolutely horrible. I really hope the rest of the locals are added in.
- My wife hates not having a DVR and being able to record whatever and fwd through commercials. I am looking to get a channel master OTA dvr once they become available.
- DirecTV Now cloud DVR seems to function as advertised. It's in Beta only right now and limited to 20 hours. There is no pricing information from them on how much it will cost once they release it.
- Really miss locals (antenna for now).

You might take a look at the Channels App for the Apple TV. If you are reasonably technically savvy they have a OTA DVR solution that works very well.

I've switched to DirecTV Now for about a month (from Dish). Less than half the price and it has all of the channels we watch (plus a free Apple TV!).

Few points:
- We only get Fox live as local channels, which is absolutely horrible. I really hope the rest of the locals are added in.
- My wife hates not having a DVR and being able to record whatever and fwd through commercials. I am looking to get a channel master OTA dvr once they become available.
- DirecTV Now cloud DVR seems to function as advertised. It's in Beta only right now and limited to 20 hours. There is no pricing information from them on how much it will cost once they release it.
- Really miss locals (antenna for now).

You might take a look at the Channels App for the Apple TV. If you are reasonably technically savvy they have a OTA DVR solution that works very well.

I see. This app would use something like HDHomeRun by silicon dust?

Yes, it uses the HDHomeRun for the tuners. I just added a refurbished second HDHomerun Connect so I have 4 tuners available. The DVR function runs on a server/NAS of some kind. I am running it on a 2011 Mac Mini that I already had set up for other uses. Almost any reasonably powered Windows or Mac computer could be used as the server, however it does require a certain amount of processing power so there are certain NAS options that won't work. I have 2 Apple TVs currently and am transitioning from a TiVo Roamio OTA. With ATSC 3.0 on the horizon I wanted to move to a system that was more modular plus I was having issues with the streaming apps on the TiVo.

The Channels setup is not as plug and play as the TiVo but like I said if you are technically savvy it is easy to set up, and the support from the developers of Channels is top notch. The DVR is very full featured including series passes and commercial detection. They have an iOS app so you can watch live TV or recordings on iOS devices, and a transcoding function that allows you to watch while outside of your local network. If you are considering the Channel Master it is certainly worth a look at Channels.

One negative in my experience is that sports don’t look great on youtubetv. I think it’s due to a low frame rate. Definitely inferior to cable. One work around is to stream games via the fox sports or espn apps using youtubetv login info. They seem to support a higher frame rate and at least subjectively look better to me.

thats disappointing.

i tried directv now for 6 months and cancelled it as the picture quality -- buffering, other issues -- was not as good as comcast when watching sports.

There were some upfront costs ($500 for setup -Tablo, Antenna, AppleTv), but now we're paying ~60/month for just internet and prime/netflix membersips.

How is the Tablo? More than a minority of reviews I've read state the lag between channel switching is annoying and that the picture quality is not that great.

5th_Dimension - thank you, will look more into this, though I did not know a server was necessary. I believe the tablo doesn't need anything, you can just plug it into your router and add a hard drive via usb to it (no computer/server necessary).

There were some upfront costs ($500 for setup -Tablo, Antenna, AppleTv), but now we're paying ~60/month for just internet and prime/netflix membersips.

How is the Tablo? More than a minority of reviews I've read state the lag between channel switching is annoying and that the picture quality is not that great.

5th_Dimension - thank you, will look more into this, though I did not know a server was necessary. I believe the tablo doesn't need anything, you can just plug it into your router and add a hard drive via usb to it (no computer/server necessary).

We love it. I'm not a fan of the inability to have picture in picture, but its a great device.

Just wanted to share that we no longer stream. Direct TV NOW had too many DVR glitches. YouTube TV doesn't have the channels we want (kids tv). Though both of these services have excellent quality video.

Back to bundling internet+cable and paying ~$25 more per month to do this.

Just wanted to share that we no longer stream. Direct TV NOW had too many DVR glitches. YouTube TV doesn't have the channels we want (kids tv). Though both of these services have excellent quality video.

Back to bundling internet+cable and paying ~$25 more per month to do this.

Did you try Tablo? I got FIOS down to $45/month and we have all the stations you would want (Kids, Adults, etc).

Did you only try DirecTVNow? From my trials and tests, they were the worst for picture quality. Add no zero locals in our area. Grade D

SlingTV also had lower picture quality. Good price, but fewest channels and zero locals. Grade C

I set my in-laws up on Hulu Live. All locals and the channels they want. They are not into sports. Didn't want AMC. Good picture quality. The UI seems like they developed a web browser app and then moved it to the TV. (hint: they did) the fonts are stupidly small. Navigation isn't intuitive. Grade B+

YouTube TV has zero locals in our area. I thought this was a good value. Picture quality is good and I like the UI. Grade B for no locals.

Philo TV - Great price point. If you aren't into AMC shows, sports and a limited package. Grade B-

Sony Vue (no playstation needed) has the best picture quality. Very intuitive UI and features on Amazon Fire TV. Great channel lineup. We have all locals except ABC. Not sure why ABC hangs out there. Grade A

The sad thing is, there are only 500k subscribers to Vue. Sony is mulling over shutting it down. Sigh. They have raised prices a bit, but at $49.99, our package is perfect. DVR, flawless picture and fast. Oh well. Hopefully they rename it and go with Sony Vue TV and maybe more will try it.

"We are not here to please, but to provoke thoughtfulness." --Unknown Boglehead

We cut the cord on cable, Netflix, and went with the lowest T-Mobile essentials plan on cell phones, bought a digital antenna at Wal-mart for 30 bucks, and we are saving around $2200 a year and we don't miss any of it at all.

We cut the cord on cable, Netflix, and went with the lowest T-Mobile essentials plan on cell phones, bought a digital antenna at Wal-mart for 30 bucks, and we are saving around $2200 a year and we don't miss any of it at all.

We did the same, except we went with PagePlus (Verizon network) instead of T-Mobile... Def. helps with finding the $$ to fund the kids college funds

We cut the cord on cable, Netflix, and went with the lowest T-Mobile essentials plan on cell phones, bought a digital antenna at Wal-mart for 30 bucks, and we are saving around $2200 a year and we don't miss any of it at all.

We did the same, except we went with PagePlus (Verizon network) instead of T-Mobile... Def. helps with finding the $$ to fund the kids college funds

The only downside we experienced is that sports, especially hockey, looks crummy on YouTube TV (hockey looks equally crummy on HuluTV, Sling and YouTube TV, we tried them all). The puck is much more visible on Over the Air HD.

The only downside we experienced is that sports, especially hockey, looks crummy on YouTube TV (hockey looks equally crummy on HuluTV, Sling and YouTube TV, we tried them all). The puck is much more visible on Over the Air HD.

Are you getting a less than full resolution stream? Nearly every YTTV channel is now at 60fps, at a minimum of 720p. Most are 1080p.

Check the Stats for Nerds icon for real-time information as to what quality you are getting.

The only downside we experienced is that sports, especially hockey, looks crummy on YouTube TV (hockey looks equally crummy on HuluTV, Sling and YouTube TV, we tried them all). The puck is much more visible on Over the Air HD.